Path of Exile Hideout Competition

My hideout was designed to have a town hub feel to it, showing off the various new masters in convenient and highlighted locations. The hideout sacrifices very little quality of life and utility while maintaining its look. All of the old masters are included in the area as well, in case you've ever missed old Vagan and his ear bending ;)

Welcome! I hope you all enjoy my tavern of all exiles, the Salty Siren! This is nestled within the Costal Hideout. I wanted to make an enjoyable place to chill, trade, map, whatever. I hope you all enjoy!

The hideout I made is a bit different. The theme is suppose to be a lost expedition mystery, where the exile arrives on shore to a previously forgotten expedition on a mysterious island many miles away from Oriath, one that few have set foot upon. On arrival, the exile notices several things wrong with the shore, and later finds a beach encampment empty, save for forgotten weapons and supplies. This is the account the exile gives when first commenting on the camp's abandonment.

Report on the Lost Expedition

Landing on shore of the island, one is greeted by rocks, wood, and the occasional body infested with the spores of a mushroom. An average explorer would have avoided such shorelines to dock upon, yet here it was.

The ship, name lost during the burning of Oriath and erased by the elements, sat still against the beach, its bow shattered by spires of rocks. How the ship got into such a position could only be guessed at. Most likely though, the beach had been flooded when the ship came to shore, not seeing the barrier until it was too late.

The survivors, at least what can only be assumed to be the survivors, had built a makeshift scrapyard. Through the records were burned during the flames, it seemed as if prisoners of some form had been transported along with regular supplies. Or perhaps, these cells were intended for something else.

The survivors had constructed a makeshift butchery. Judging from the tarp above, this was constructed after their main camp was built, meaning that supplies might have been running low. The reinforced cages to the side of the butchery seem to have seen little use, as most of the metal had no blood nor dirt on them.

There was also a tarp over a surplus of wood, potentially for fires to light up the night. With a surplus of meat, wood, and scraps from other, older ships one would think that such a camp would be sustainable by itself.

And yet, here we are. The camp has been abandoned, yet the tents were in perfect condition. We had discovered small bits of rubble from what appears to be another civilized society, yet there seems to be no traces of them other than fallen pillars of stone.

Also, despite their small butchery, the camp still had plenty of food on hand. Not only that, but stores of barrels of water were also found, meaning there must be a stream somewhere nearby. Which begs the question: why did the soldiers have a butchery?

Stranger still is that this camp had no shortage of weaponry. Axes and swords were hung neatly in a small blacksmith, makeshift just like the butchery. On the other side of the camp, bows laid on a rack, waiting for a master to wield them once more. And these survivors weren't simply citizens. This was a military expedition. The survivors would have been trained soldiers, elites judging by the secrecy of this voyage.

I ventured into the journal entries of the missing, if not late, captain of this doomed journey into the unknown. From his writings, I could trace no cause of trouble, no sign of madness, no savage beast that would warrant such a placed to be abandoned.

Yet, despite the captain's remarks on the safety of such a place, they hid their technological experiments under a tent. Why? No other person was around to see them, for they were miles off shore. Why hide themselves when no one could have possibly followed them? And why fortify the entire perimeter of the camp if no danger was detected?

Those who had accompanied me in this investigation had found maps pointing to several supposed ruins and burial sites along the island. The soothsayer in our group stated we shouldn't investigate such places, for doom from the ground, from the air, and from the sea would consume us. For now, I have to agree with her.

Despite all of the weaponry, despite the surplus of supplies, despite their military training, there was no trace of any survivors from the expedition that could be seen. At least, when we first arrived on shore, there wasn't. However, after the first night, we awoken to find a soldier in front of the camp's entrance into the woods. He was dead, and from his body, he appeared to have been dead for a long time. Which begs the last and most important question: What is this island hiding?